


Heartbreak Under the Ethereal Moon

by kiwiqueen



Series: Claude/Byleth [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, F/M, Goddess Tower (Fire Emblem), Heartbreak, Hurt No Comfort, Pining, Pre-Time Skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-13
Updated: 2019-11-13
Packaged: 2021-01-29 20:54:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21416512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwiqueen/pseuds/kiwiqueen
Summary: When she goes to the Goddess Tower on the night of the ball, Hilda overhears something that she's better off forgetting.
Relationships: Hilda Valentine Goneril & Claude von Riegan, Hilda Valentine Goneril/Claude von Riegan, My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Series: Claude/Byleth [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875772
Comments: 1
Kudos: 63





	Heartbreak Under the Ethereal Moon

Normally Hilda wouldn’t give up a chance to be the center of attention, but the ballroom was so crowded and stuffy that she needed some air. The candlelight, though romantic, made the hall unbearably hot. At least, that was what Hilda told herself. In truth, while she had shared dances with Sylvain, Lorenz, and even Marianne, there was only one person she really wanted to dance with, and she had seen his amber-colored cape swirling as he twirled their professor around the dance floor.

So she had stepped out.

The cold air of the Ethereal Moon night felt good against her sweaty skin. Dancing had been more work than Hilda had anticipated. She wandered the monastery courtyards idly, listening to the gentle music that she could still hear coming from the ballroom. Holst would love to hear about the ball. Hilda took a seat at one of the small tables nearby and pictured her brother’s smiling face. She should write to him soon. The last time she had written, she recalled, was when Claude had told her about his parents.

Ah, there she was thinking about Claude again. Holst’s face was replaced in her mind by Claude’s gorgeous, tan complexion, his mischievous eyes staring right through her.

Hilda smiled and rested her face in her hands. Claude had told her how his mother had left the Alliance to elope with his father. “Not your average duchess,” he had said of his mother. As the younger of two children, Hilda knew she would never be the duchess of Goneril, but still she wondered if she could be that kind of woman. Maybe she could live romantically and elope with the one that she loved. Though, if she were to marry Claude. . . no, that was ridiculous. He was just a relentless tease, that was all. There was no way that he could actually have feelings for her. Was there?

Suddenly, she stood. Something compelled her away, though she wasn’t sure what. Call it instinct, perhaps. She gazed up at the sky and traced constellations as the stars winked down at her. Did they know something that she did not? Before she knew it, her legs had carried her across the monastery grounds to the Goddess Tower. She hesitated. What was she even hoping to find up there? She started up the stairs.

Her heart leaped into her throat at the sound of a familiar voice. “What brings you to the Goddess Tower? You know what? Never mind, the answer is as clear as day. You couldn’t bear the ball anymore and simply had to escape.”

Just as quickly, it fell into the pit of her stomach when she heard her professor answer. “I just needed a break.”

Claude and Byleth were at the Goddess Tower together? On the night of the ball? Hilda’s pulse pounded in her ears, almost drowning out their voices up ahead of her. She felt as though she was going to be sick. As if seeing them waltz across the ballroom floor wasn’t enough, now she had to listen to their secret little rendezvous together.

“Say, Teach, have you heard the legends about this tower?”

It was almost too much to handle. Hilda wanted to leave, go back to the courtyard, back to the ballroom, back to her dorm, be anywhere but here, but her feet stayed locked in place.

“What would we wish for?”

Hilda knew the answer all too clearly. To be together forever, happily, their union blessed by the progenitor goddess.

“Just promise to spare a dance for me, okay Teach?”

Hilda felt mortified at the thought of one of them catching her there and sickened at the thought of seeing them share another dance. She dashed down the stairs as fast as she could and made for the second floor dorms. Reaching her own bedroom, she threw herself down atop her yellow comforter and admonished herself. What had she expected to find? Had she really hoped that she would meet Claude at the top of the tower to promise their love? Her chest ached imagining the way Byleth’s teal eyes must have sparkled in the starlight, how her matching hair must have shone in the glow of the moon. She knew she had no claim over Claude, no right to her jealousy. Their professor was, in painful honesty, the only person who could possibly match him.

And if Byleth could make him happy, how could Hilda possibly get in the way?


End file.
